SATURN

Lord of the Rings

Saturn has long been known for its rings. If a person were
to recite all they knew of other planets, it would be a sure
bet that the knowledge of Saturn's rings would be in the top
five. But Saturn is a fascinating world in itself, so like
Jupiter in some ways, but so unlike it in others.

Considered one of the
gas giant planets, Saturn is smaller and colder than Jupiter.
The planet has a diameter of 120,660 km, about 9.5 times the
diameter of the earth. Saturn takes 29.5 years to orbit the Sun
at a distance of 1427 million km.

Like Jupiter, Saturn has
a fast rotation rate, turning on its axis once every 10 hours
14 minutes. This has the effect of flattening Saturn at its
poles, though not as noticeably as Jupiter.